mardi, septembre 26, 2006

Of course, the title is an homage to Slashdot's 2006 April Fools' OMG!!! PONIES!!! layout. Be sure to scroll down about 4 or 5 posts to find the beginning of the OMG!!! posts. They begin with something about glitter.

By the way, did you know that Wil Wheaton, of Star Trek : The Next Generation fame, is an active "Slashdotter?" His username is "CleverNickName." More amusingly, he has a blog. All of the gay geeks that grew up in the early 90's just wet themselves. Alas, he is evidently straight (either that or his wife and kids deserve an explanation). And, alas, that receding chin of his is harder to ignore without the cinematographic magic of ST:TNG. On the upside, he's a surprisingly funny writer and he's started blogging reviews of the early ST:TNG episodes.

OK, so back to the OMG!!! CHOCOLATE!!!. Although this did not occur until after I got home from work, work was unexciting so this will be both the beginning and the ending of my day, blog-wise. Here's what happened:

As she came in asking for a some IT support, one of my fellow grad students brought with her a small square box with my name on it. It was shipped from the exotic land of Chicago, and the declaration on the customs/duty form said "chocolate." I remembered that I had been expecting a package from Mark and Sharon. These are none other than Mark of ORTED fame, and Sharon, whose awesomeness requires no proof. Mark and Sharon are, at this moment, my mostest favourite people in the world, and this has at least something to do with the fact that the contents of that package were chocolate. Now, if you've been reading this blog since the start you can probably already guess this, but chocolate is sort of totally my Achilles' heel. It's like giving heroin to a junkie. For as long as the trip lasts, you're their hero. Or so I've been told.

So, I put the box down next to my groceries (I had gone to the marché des enfants rouges that morning before work) and willed myself to wait until I got home. After a surprisingly sweaty ride home, I immediately tossed my groceries in the fridge and got to opening that box. Inside was a veritable treasure trove of chocolate deliciousness. There was a box of neuhaus chocolates (16 pieces!) and a bar of Galler 70% cocoa chocolate. You see, Mark and Sharon had been in Belgium just before I left for France, and I was looking after their car. I was mostly making sure that the Chicago parking faries weren't putting up street-cleaning signs near their parking spot, but in the end I was more occupied taking care of the crash report after some guy lost control of his car one saturday morning and took out 3 cars (including theirs). For some strange reason, Mark and Sharon felt that this required payment in the form of CHOCOLATE, and I was not about to argue.

I took one of the organic comice pears I had bought that morning and cut it up, poured myself a goblet of orange juice and sparking water (the puritan's mimosa), and started in on the chocolate. Sometime during the gorge-fest, I took a moment to take the still-life picture above. A brief momento of what was otherwise the haze of a chocolate-berzerker. Shame prevents me from disclosing how many chocolates I ate, but it's currently 10:51pm and I'm only vaguely hungry for dinner.

As a closing non-sequitur, I'd like to gesture towards this sunset, taken from my window:

4 commentaires:

OMG! Petits Suisses!Reading through your blog while experiencing a tad of insomnia, I got to your delightful post about having a petit suisse (or even better, two) for breakfast. I GORGED myself on those when I was in France last month. My preferred mode of eating them is plain and simple: I just sprinkle a little (ok, I confess, lots of) granulated sugar on top of the little cheese castle in my plate and then mash it all like a four-year old before devouring. Yum!My French family's favourite story about me is about how when I was three I ate FIVE petits suisses in one sitting. And didn't get sick.Now I restrict myself to two a day when I'm lucky enough to have access to them...

Another surprisingly yummy yogurty treat available only in France: chocolate Danettes (in the "dessert creams" section of the two-aisle yogurt section of your grocery store!). Very rich chocolatey flavour, not too sweet, with a slighly "rapeux" texture (sorry, my brain is working in French right now). Note: many of my French family members dislike chocolate Danettes. Something may be wrong with me. Second note: there exist a lot of knock-offs of Danettes -- again, family members tell me they're just as good as the original, but I figure, I'm only in town for two weeks or whatever, why would I take a chance? Anyway, let me know what you think...

Ah, petit suisses! It's probably for the best that these are not easily available in N. America, because I would easily gain a zillion pounds. That much being said, my friends over here assure me that you can eat more and never gain weight in France. =]Anyway, I will totally try the Danettes. We all know how I feel about chocolate, and I'm almost out of petits suisses anyway, so...